and then came the tragic story of ronni moffitt. she was not targeted but she happened to be in the car with him. she stumbled out of the car and her husband was in the backseat. he suffered just minor cuts. he looked at her and she was stumbling away so he figured she must be okay. i'm going to go help orlando who's in the driver's seat and clearly is dying. and so he went around the front, tried to get orlando out and couldn't do it. there was, you know, jagged metal pieces everywhere, broken glass. and he simply couldn't -- the car had essentially imploded onto itself. he couldn't get the body out. eventually he went to see his wife and he realized at that point that a piece of shrapnel had exploded from the driver's seat and had cut her carotid artery and she was essentially drowning in her own blood even though that was her only injury. and so both victims were immediately brought -- within a few minutes there were police vehicles and ambulances all over this circle. we're just a few blocks away from dupont circle and so a lot

at the same time, ronni moffitt, a u.s. citizen, was also killed in this car bomb, and all of this happened here in sheridan circle in the heart of nbc row in washington, d.c. on that morning of september 21st, 1976, orlando letelier was an employee of a think tank in washington called the institute for policy studies. he was driving his car to work. he lived in that direction. in bethesda, maryland. he came down embassy row, massachusetts avenue, lined with several embassies. in the car with him were two colleagues from isp, ronni moffitt and her husband michael moffitt. they turned the corner over here and unbeknownst to them, following them was a gray sedan. in that gray sedan were two cuban americans who had helped put a bomb underneath the driver's seat in the chevelle that orlando letelier was driving. the order to put the bomb in there was given by d.i.n.a., which was the secret police of chile, and chile was ruled at that time by a dictator who didn't like the political activities that orlando letelier, a former amb

michael and ronni moffitt, both 25, and recently married. whileffitts waited letelier showered and dressed and rushed out the door. isabel barely had time to kiss him goodbye. orlando took the wheel of his 1975 chevelle malibu classic. michael opened the front passenger door for ronni and plopped himself in the backseat. it was a drizzly morning in the nation's capital. in less than an hour, orlando and ronni would be dead. michael would be traumatized for life. this is the actual car after the bombing. on sheridan circle. "i never learned what the surprise was," isabel recalled when i interviewed her over 40 years after the event. to this day, the killing of orlando letelier and ronni moffitt remains the only assassination of a foreign diplomat on u.s. soil. it is also the only state sponsored assassination in washington, and the most important in u.s. history. the letelier-moffitt assassinations constituted the most brazen act of international terrorism ever committed in the capital of the united states. . the only state-sponsored such act

out of gallantry, micheal moffitt opened the front door for ronni. in less than an hour orlando and ronni would be dead. michael would be traumatized for life. this is the actual car after the bombing on sheridan circle. i never learned what the surprise was, isabel recalled, when i interviewed her over 40 years after this event. to this day, the killing of orlando letelier and ronni moffitt remains the only assassination of a foreign diplomat on u.s. soil. it's also the only state-sponsored assassination in washington and the most important in history. still osama bin laden assessed one historian, they constituted the most brazen act of international terrorism ever committed in the capital of the united states. it is still the only state sponsored such act and the only car bomb. the two decade long resolution of this case would hold implications for chile, the united states, terrorism, human rights, and the fate of democracy everywhere. my book notably argues that it was crucial in taking down the entire pinochet government. but today i want to expl

at the same time, ronni moffitt,